The Toronto Raptors’ rookie that no one talked about this season
“The following is part of Raptors Republic’s series of pieces reviewing the season for the Toronto Raptors. You can find all the pieces in the series here.”
This season, all the chatter regarding the Toronto Raptors’ rookies was about the quadruple “J’s” of Ja’Kobe Walter, Jamal Shead, Jonathan Mogbo, and Jamison Battle. That talk was well deserved, but there’s a forgotten rookie who didn’t quite get mentioned enough, especially for one who improved mightily throughout the year, Ulrich Chomche.
Despite having physical traits that you just can’t teach, like standing at 6-foot-11 with shoes on, having a 7-foot-4 wingspan and 9-foot-1 standing reach, the 57th overall pick flew under the radar. It’s most likely because Chomche played in the G League as part of the Raptors 905 for most of the year, but the 19-year-old’s progression, especially from where he was at a couple of years ago, has been remarkable.
While being the youngest player this past season under contract, Chomche immediately became one of the best defenders in the G during the first part of the minor league season, better known as the Tip-Off Tournament. The first portion is 14 games long, and the Cameroonian established himself across this period.
The defensive numbers were astounding, including averaging 2.7 blocks per game, which was good enough for the sixth-best mark in the G League. Blocking and contesting shots is easily Chomche’s best trait, and with the 905’s perimeter defence lacklustre to say the least all season, the rookie was constantly being put in tough situations and fared well.
He contested everything, and with solid timing and instincts combined with those freaky measurements, he limited opponents at the rim. Opposing players shot 39.1% (61/156 ) at the rim when Chomche contested through the Tip-Off Tournament, and yes, sometimes he got stuffed into the rim, but that didn’t discourage him from going up and meeting anybody at the rim on any night. Overall, his motor and activity was noticeable on the defensive side of the ball all year.
His 102.5 defensive rating topped the 905 and was the 45th best mark in the G. It was even more impressive as it came on a 5-11, fourth-worst team in the league through the tournament.
One of the most impressive things that the rookie showed, not just in the early portion of the season but all year, was his ability to switch in pick and roll and guard on the perimeter. Chomche moves extremely well, and not just for someone of his size, as his ground coverage is exceptional. You’ll see him flying down the court, outrunning not just other bigs but mostly everyone on the hardwood. He’s super coordinated, flips his hips well, and is overall an athletic guy. During the combine, Chomche finished with the fourth fastest shuttle run, added a near 36-inch vertical jump, and finished with the 22nd fastest three-quarter court sprint ahead of guys like the Detroit Pistons’ Ron Holland.
905 head coach Drew Jones spoke very highly of Chomche all season, as he was impressed with the centre.
“Effort, intensity, instincts, a lot of things you can’t teach that he has,” said Jones.
“He just picks things up very, very quickly. That’s what I’ve been probably most pleased with him. I think that the toughest or most underrated NBA skill is taking something directly from film or the practice court and then getting it in the game in real time. And I think for as young as he is and for kind of raw he is as a player, that’s been pretty impressive to see from him.”
Chomche’s defence was consistent and impressive all season, but one of the biggest improvement areas for the big man heading into the regular season of the G League was the offensive side of the ball. The rookie’s team-best 102.5 defensive rating was actually higher than his team-worst 102.3 offensive rating in the Tip-Off tournament, which was good enough for 337th in the G league.
To start the year, he didn’t have a significant impact on the game offensively, being strictly used as a screener and play finisher. Chomche barely had the ball in his hands, posting a 12.5 usage percentage (415th in the G League), making his team-worst 53.6 true shooting percentage somewhat concerning. The big man rarely put the ball on the deck and only took a handful of jump shots. There were some hook and push shots in the paint here and there, but his points mostly came off of looks created for him.
“Energy and effort is there. Right? Obviously, there’s a lot of teaching and development that has to take place,” said Jones.
“But the tools are there, so we’re really happy with how hard he’s playing. Rebounding the ball well [and] blocking shots. Offensively, he’s a work in progress, but we’ll get him there. He’s already much better than he was. I tell our guys all the time, pace plus screening equals execution. So for him, it’s playing with pace of the action, knowing what we need in order to execute an action and then go and do it. And for him, I think learning the game and just the speed of the game and the timing, he’s been night and day who he was when we first got here. So he’ll continue to make those leaps.”
The best parts of the 19-year-old’s game offensively were his hands, screening, and especially passing. Chomche showed off the latter coming into the draft, making nice reads and threading crisp passes, especially off the bounce, through tight windows. The Raptors and 905 like to run a lot of stuff through their big man, and Chomche showed some flashes of being able to do a little bit of that dribble handoff hub that the team could utilize.
Ultimately, Chomche improved in every area in the regular season, averaging more points (8.0), assists (1.3), rebounds (8.7), and shooting it better from the field (54.9 percent) than he did in the Tip-Off Tournament. He showed more comfort in all scenarios, setting better-timed and harder screens, finishing around the basket with more consistency, and creating shots for himself more regularly. He even stepped out and hit a couple of 3-pointers, something that is sneaky about his game that can be developed, as he has shown the ability to hit some standstill outside shots in concession in warmups.
Overall, at such a young age, Chomche showed truly impressive stuff in the G League, especially on the defensive end. His motor and physicality shone through, eventually earning some time in the NBA. It wasn’t very many minutes in the big leagues for Chomche, as he would only appear in seven games. Throughout the first six games, Chomche only saw just over 20 minutes of total action, all coming in garbage time. In the seventh game, however, he appeared in his first non-garbage minutes, matching up against former MVP and fellow Cameroonian, Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers. While he wasn’t the most impactful per se, he held his own, snagging two boards and rejecting a shot. Chomche looked like he belonged, or at the very least there was flashes that he could, which was remarkable given that he joined the NBA Academy Africa late in 2019 after being a farmer all his life.
Chomche, unfortunately, wasn’t able to build on that solid performance, suffering a partial proximal MCL tear in his right knee back in the G League after a teammate fell into his leg late in the third quarter of the 905’s final game before the all-star break against the Cleveland Charge, ending his season.
By all accounts, Chomche will be good to go when Summer League rolls around on July 10, but it was a sour note to end on for the big, who had all the momentum and was just starting to get the recognition and flowers his fellow rookies were getting.
It was night and day this season from where Ulrich Chomche began to where he ended, and with the work ethic he has, the traits you simply can’t teach, and the skills he has already shown at his age, there’s a lot of runway for him to make an impact going forward.
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